By Associate Professor Joyce Koh, University of Otago and Dr Kwong Nui Sim, Auckland University of Technology

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have long been important in supporting academic practices at all levels of formal learning. This is even more so with the global forced migration to online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the embedding of ICT competency development within content learning is generally weak as there is an implicit assumption and expectation for students to be digitally competent (e.g., Oliver, 2013; Sim, 2018). With the rapid development of digital technologies, higher education students are increasingly facing the needs to manoeuvre varying learning modes including face-to-face, blended, flipped and online.

Students face several challenges in terms of this new normal for digital learning and their digital competencies are becoming increasingly influential for their academic success (Hong & Kim, 2018). The transition from face-to-face to online discussion, for example, may not be seamless as it is commonly found that students have difficulty engaging in online discussions at a critical level in this medium (Koh, Herring, & Hew, 2010). Another emerging example would be the online assignments and/or assessments that form a large part of the learning experiences.

A recent study revealed that the students are still inexperienced or unfamiliar with this practice (Alruwais, Wills & Wald, 2018). In terms of the connection between delivery of the course and the learning design online, it seems to be a challenge for student learning as well (Davey, Elliott & Bora, 2019). Further, with the push to enhance student-centeredness through increased learner flexibility and learning choices (Lea, Stephenson, & Troy, 2003), online materials such as video lectures are increasingly being made available for self-directed study. Yet, it is found that high performing students strategise their access and learning of online materials differently than lower performing students (AlJarrah, Thomas, & Shehab, 2018).  In MOOC-based learning, for instance, the strategies that the learners use to engage the technical and social features of the system for self-regulated and collaborative learning have positively influenced their sense of achievement (Magen-Nagar & Cohen, 2017)

As Castañeda and Selwyn (2018) argued, it is important that we have an active commitment to ‘think otherwise’ about how ICT might be better implemented across higher education settings” (p. 8). However, there is relatively little known about the digital literacies that higher education students need in order to be efficient and effective in their use of ICT. Competencies for using ICT have been understood as the digital literacies needed for one to function effectively in an increasingly technology-driven society (Gilster, 1997; Jones & Hafner, 2012). The various examples mentioned above indicate that general digital competences may not adequately pinpoint students’ readiness for digital learning because the “learning” is influenced by the pedagogical contexts wherein these competencies are being enacted.

The kinds of digital competencies that higher education students require need clearer mapping (e.g. Blayone, Mykhailenko, VanOostveen, & Barber, 2018).  We posit that these could comprise digital technical skills, information literacies to access and use information ethically, as well as media literacies for using, repurposing, and creating digital media (Guzmán-Simón, García-Jiménez, & López-Cobo, 2017; Hong & Kim, 2018), or even the literacies for being able to learn meaningfully with ICT through the use of digital technologies as cognitive tools for higher-order thinking, data manipulation, collaboration, and self-directed learning (Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2013).

Students currently need digital literacies to succeed in learning as the pandemic rises and ebbs across different parts of the world. Higher education learning in the post pandemic world may also be highly influenced and shaped by students’ current digital experiences. It is perhaps time for clear mapping of the digital literacies for supporting educational success, now and beyond.

References

AlJarrah, A., Thomas, M. K., & Shehab, M. (2018). Investigating temporal access in a flipped classroom: procrastination persists. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 1-18. doi:10.1186/s41239-017-0083-9

Alruwais, N., Wills, G., & Wald, M. (2018). Advantages and Challenges of Using e-Assessment. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 8(1), 34–37. http://doi.org/10.18178/ijiet.2018.8.1.1008

Blayone, T. J. B., Mykhailenko, O., VanOostveen, R., & Barber, W. (2018). Ready for digital learning? A mixed-methods exploration of surveyed technology competencies and authentic performance activity. Education and Information Technologies, 23(3), 1377-1402. doi:10.1007/s10639-017-9662-6

Castañeda, L. & Selwyn, N. (2018). More than tools? Making sense of the ongoing digitizations of higher education. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 15(22), 1- 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0109-y

Davey, B., Elliott, K., & Bora, M. (2019). Negotiating Pedagogical Challenges in the Shift from Face-to-Face to Fully Online Learning: A Case Study of Collaborative Design Solutions by Learning Designers and Subject Matter Expert. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice 16(1), 1-2-.

Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. New York:Wiley Computer Publications.

Guzmán-Simón, F., García-Jiménez, E., & López-Cobo, I. (2017). Undergraduate students’ perspectives on digital competence and academic literacy in a Spanish University. Computers in Human Behavior, 74, 196-204. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.040

Hong, A. J., & Kim, H. J. (2018). College Students’ Digital Readiness for Academic Engagement (DRAE) Scale: Scale Development and Validation. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 27(4), 303-312. doi:10.1007/s40299-018-0387-0

Howland, J. L., Jonassen, D., & Marra, R. M. (2013). Meaningful learning with technology (4th ed.). New York:Pearson Higher Education.

Jones, R. H., & Hafner, C. A. (2012). Understanding digital literacies. London and New York:Routledge.

Koh, J. H. L., Herring, S. C., & Hew, K. F. (2010). Project-based learning and student knowledge construction during asynchronous online discussion. The Internet and Higher Education, 13(4), 284-291. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.09.003

Lea, S. J., Stephenson, D., & Troy, J. (2003). Higher education students’ attitudes to student-centred learning: Beyond ‘educational bulimia’? Studies in Higher Education, 28(3), 321-334. doi:10.1080/03075070309293

Magen-Nagar, N., & Cohen, L. (2017). Learning strategies as a mediator for motivation and a sense of achievement among students who study in MOOCs. Education and Information Technologies, 22(3), 1271-1290. doi:10.1007/s10639-016-9492-y

Oliver, M. (2013). Learning technology: Theorising the tools we study. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(1), 31-43.

Sim. KN. (Ed.). (2018). Enhancing the Role of ICT in Doctoral Research Processes. USA: IGI Global.